A HEREFORDSHIRE MP has added his support to a campaign to better protect the country's bees.

MP for North Herefordshire, Bill Wiggin, met Friends of the Earth campaigners at the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham last month.

They are hoping to encourage the Government to improve its plan, due to be published this autumn, to protect bees and other vital pollinating insects.

Mr Wiggin said: “I have bees at home and I would like to see them flourishing.

"The role which bees play in the food chain cannot be understated, and a severe decline in our bee population could have major consequences for food production."

He is backing the Bee Cause Campaign for a tough national Bee Action Plan that fully tackles all the threats bees face.

In the past 60 years 97% of the UK’s wildflower meadows have disappeared and bee habitat continues to be lost to development.

A new initiative in Monmouthshire has been backed by TV presenter, Kate Humble, at her farm near Monmouth.

Bee Friendly Monmouthshire has three aims: encouraging everyone to plant more bee friendly flowers, leaving nesting places for bees, and avoiding pesticides that kill insects and destroy their habitat.

Her farm, Humble by Nature near Penalt, is the first to sign up and to display the bee friendly logo.